Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death in South Africa of one of Scotland’s all-time boxing greats, former world flyweight champion Jackie Paterson.

A big heart and a devastating punch carried him to world title success before his 23rd birthday but, within five years, his career had been effectively counted out, not helped by weight problems and an errant lifestyle.

Despite having earned £100,000 in the ring, he was declared bankrupt shortly after hanging up his gloves.Thereafter, increasing gambling problems and a fondness for alcohol led to a marriage break-up, sending Paterson’s life into a downward spiral that culminated in his tragic death aged only 46 in Natal.

It was widely reported that he had been murdered in a drunken brawl but that has latterly been discredited, the more authoritative view being that he died an accidental death in the course of a scuffle.

In some respects his downfall mirrored that of his hero and predecessor as world flyweight kingpin Benny Lynch and can be seen as another example of the litany of flawed boxers’ premature deaths in unsavoury circumstances.

Uprooted from his native Springside in Ayrshire aged seven to go with his family to North America, where his father worked as a miner in various locations, Paterson returned six years later to Glasgow where the family lived in Pitt Street.

His interest in football was soon superceded by boxing when a chance encounter led him to Anderston Boxing Club.

Pat Collins, his future manager who ran the club, noted his punching power when, on his first time in the ring, he flattened his opponent.

He began boxing seriously and, after a brief amateur career when he reached the Scottish flyweight final, he turned professional, making a winning debut in May 1938 against Joe Kiely in Greenock.

He underlined his promise in his next fight when he knocked out his eventual nemesis Rinty Monaghan, then on the back of a run of 19 consecutive wins.

In 1939 he was brought to the attention of the public, winning both the Scottish and British flyweight titles by knockouts against respectively Freddie Tennant and Paddy Ryan, the latter at Carntyne dog racing track, a type of venue with which he would become far too familiar.

He added the British Empire title the following year and despite the onset of war and service in the RAF, he continued fighting and winning regularly.

This led to a bout against Peter Kane for his world flyweight title on June 19, 1943, at Hampden Park in front of 50,000 fans. Kane had twice fought Lynch and was well known to Paterson as a colleague at RAF Padgate near Warrington with whom he had fought exhibitions.

Immediately the bell rang, Kane went on the front foot but the Scot soon had him pinned back and it was all over after 61 seconds, a vicious right cross knocking Kane out.

As a broad shouldered flyweight, he found it increasingly difficult to make the eight stone limit and took on more fights at bantamweight, winning the British Empire and European titles while retaining his world flyweight crown.

Once war finished, Paterson began enjoying more of a celebrity lifestyle, a frequent patron of dog tracks and acquiring a reputation as a snappily dressed man about town, living comfortably in Hillhead.

Although by now gambling and drinking were casting a shadow over his life, it would be wrong to dismiss him as merely a self indulgent hedonist. An extremely likeable individual, during wartime he was an enthusiastic and popular supporter of charity events, giving freely of his time to travel the whole country participating in exhibitions.

Matters came to a head in 1947 when he failed to attend the weigh in at the Astoria Ballroom, Sauchiehall Street, for the defence of his world crown against Dada Marino.

Initially stripped of his title, resort to the courts succeeded in his retaining it subject to a mandatory showdown against Rinty Monaghan on March 23, 1948.

Rangers helped him prepare by extending training facilities at Ibrox but a gaunt Paterson, who had struggled to make the weight, lost by seventh round knock out and his career was in tatters.He fought on with little success till February 1951, being made bankrupt later that year.

Personal issues continued to dog him, leading to his emigrating with his family to South Africa in 1954 for "a fresh start".

After an unsuccessful spell in hotel management and other jobs, his marriage began to disintegrate and his wife Helen divorced him in the early-1960s. He returned here and worked as a barman in Largs before his demons surfaced again.

He returned to South Africa in an ill-fated attempt at reconciliation but did succeed in finding employment as a lorry driver.On November 19, 1946, having enjoyed a few beers with workmates, he returned to his digs in Amanzimtoti where an altercation started with his landlord.

A scuffle developed in which Paterson fell to the floor, sustaining fatal injury through broken glass penetrating his neck.

A murder charge was brought but not pursued, an inquiry apparently ruling that death was accidental. Paterson was buried in Stellawood Cemetery, Durban.